Campaign contributions connected to a major N.C. Democratic Party fundraiser are now the subject of a Criminal Investigation, but the head of the state’s elections board said he has not seen any need to open a broader investigation into Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.
Contributors who gave a total of $48,000 to Bev Perdue either worked for or had personal connections to Rusty Carter, a fundraiser who owns a Wilmington packaging company.
Bev Perdue’s campaign forfeited the money after campaign officials became concerned that the contributors may have been reimbursed. In North Carolina, it is illegal to give campaign contributions in the name of another person.
Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said Monday that the file on Carter’s contributions has been closed, a step taken when the board’s investigations become criminal. The board’s staff is coordinating with New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David’s office, Bartlett said.
An attorney for Carter emphasized Monday that it was Carter who contacted David’s office about the contributions.
“We reached out very early in the process to everyone and we have been fully cooperative with everyone,” said Michael Murchison, an attorney for Carter and his business.
Also Tuesday, Susan Carter, Rusty Carter’s wife, officially resigned as a trustee at UNC Wilmington. Susan Carter, a Perdue appointee, sent a letter last week to UNCW Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo, but the letter was received Tuesday.
Bartlett said that unlike the N.C. Republican Party, which has repeatedly demanded a public hearing into Perdue, he is satisfied that the state’s system for campaign finance is working.
Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer has tried to connect Perdue to former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, whose campaign was fined $100,000 after the elections board held a hearing and determined that Easley’s campaign failed to disclose campaign flights.
An audit Perdue ordered of her own finances has turned up 31 flights that were not properly disclosed. Meanwhile, Democrats have filed a complaint that Republican candidates also have undisclosed flights, and the elections board decided to look into all candidates for governor for the past two elections.
The state board staff has also produced a form for all campaigns to use to record campaign flights. The form, still being drafted, includes fields meant to help ensure flights are valued properly.
Fetzer’s Charges
It was at a news conference called by Fetzer in which the Carter contributions were first brought to light, and Fetzer has continued a string of news conferences in which he has pointed out clusters of contributions that appear to be connected to a single business or person.
“All we’re asking is the State Board of Elections hold hearings,” Fetzer said Monday. “Do we have to wait for sitting governors to get out of office before we ask questions?”
Bartlett, however, made a distinction between the Carter situation, in which campaign officials said they have reason to believe donors were reimbursed, and the patterns Fetzer has highlighted. Bartlett said fundraisers routinely ask friends, co-workers and family members to contribute.
A quick scan of the campaign finances of 2008 Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory is littered with similar clusters in which employees of the same business wrote checks on the same day.
McCrory got nine checks worth a total of $6,000 from BB&T executives on the same day. In the last two weeks of January 2008, he received 26 checks worth a total of $50,500 from Duke Energy executives, according to campaign finance reports.
“If evidence is to come forward, I think it is the responsibility of not only the campaign, but everybody who is a part of this process to question it,” Bartlett said. “What the law is not set up to do is to question everything without some type of evidence to start it because you do not need to go on any fishing expeditions without a cause. You go for a purpose.”
Bob Hall, director of the nonpartisan advocacy group Democracy North Carolina, said clusters of checks are found in any big campaign.
“I think it’s easy to just highlight those and then try to gin up an accusation,” said Hall, who filed the complaint that led to the Easley hearing. “I think the media needs to be not such a sucker for that ploy.”
Perdue’s campaign has noted that it undertook its own audit after it found some software problems. That audit led to uncovering the flights.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure that everything we’ve done is reported properly,” said Marc Farinella, a consultant for Perdue’s campaign.
Bartlett said that the board would decide to call a hearing as a final step in any of its investigations if there were information it could not get any other way. Easley’s campaign did not disclose its flights until the hearing.
“Our first, foremost and primary purpose is full disclosure,” Bartlett said. “Yes, we want it to be timely, but even if it’s not timely, we want to work with anyone who tries to get full disclosure.”
Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, National Affairs
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